Human Wellbeing

People benefit from a healthy Hood Canal environment

We have always known that the Hood Canal natural environment contributes to our wellbeing. It is why we want to live and vacation here. Those values inform the way we manage natural resources.

Healthy ecosystems benefit people in many ways, providing clean water, food, recreation, and they have cultural, spiritual and psychological significance. Natural resources are also a significant contributor to the local economy. We measure human wellbeing in Hood Canal to capture local values and help ensure they are honored. Monitoring human wellbeing will inform and help us evaluate watershed strategies for social and ecological benefits.

Social scientists generally define human wellbeing by six different aspects or domains: psychological, physical health, social health, cultural health, governance and economic. The Integrated Watershed Plan has adopted those, as well as specific indicators for each. When we combine the results of our assessment of human wellbeing indicators with our assessment of environmental indicators, we get a snapshot of the overall social-ecological health of Hood Canal.

The indicators are not meant to comprehensively capture all aspects of human wellbeing and the environment. They were selected using a participatory process involving Hood Canal residents and natural resource professionals. The indicators and methods will be refined and expanded in the future. Learn more about how human wellbeing indicators were selected in Hood Canal.

We are managing our Hood Canal home and its resources to ensure its health and vitality into the future

The mission of the Integrated Watershed Plan (IWP) is to achieve a healthy Hood Canal that benefits people now and in future generations. The current focus areas integrate the ecological and social aspects of our region, including: forests, forestry, shellfish, commercial shell fishing, salmon, and human wellbeing.

Our first human wellbeing survey was conducted in 2014 using Google Consumer Surveys, an internet-based survey instrument. Respondents were identified in all of the Hood Canal zip codes, and were further screened to target only respondents who live full-time, part-time, or own property in Hood Canal. Results were weighted based on demographic data from the 2010 US Census and 2012 5-Year American Community Survey. Learn more about our survey methods and results in the Measuring Human Wellbeing Indicators for Hood Canal report.

Within the human wellbeing focus area, we’ve specified a number of indicators by which to monitor the success of our efforts.

The Hood Canal environment generates positive emotions

People often have a connection to a specific place within Hood Canal, from a favorite hike or lookout for reflection, to a secret harvesting site or beach for family gatherings. Many also experience positive feelings associated with the area in general.

This indicator captures the positive feelings and emotions from being in, or experiencing, nature in Hood Canal, such as: awe, inspiration, fulfillment, appreciation, solitude, relaxation, sense of peace and reflection.

Ecosystem Connections

Hood Canal residents benefit from the natural surroundings in many ways. The overwhelming majority responded that they regularly experience positive emotional benefits from spending time outside. These results imply that our management strategies must be holistic to preserve these widespread benefits.

Communication

Goal:

Hood Canal residents and visitors know where to access information on natural resources issues and trust those sources.

Status:

Steady

Residents learn the most from other residents, followed by traditional news sources.

Status of Natural Resources Communication in Hood Canal

Good communication and understanding of natural resource issues requires information available from a trusted source.

This indicator monitors how we learn about natural resources or recreation issues in Hood Canal through different media sources, including: local newspapers, local radio, television, internet, social media, educational resources for children, word of mouth, other sources.

In the future, there will be further exploration of the information sources and related levels of trust associated with different organizations, governments, and individuals. Information on this indicator will also inform strategies to improve communication.

Ecosystem Connections

The most prominent information source is conversation with friends and neighbors, followed by traditional news and media sources (e.g., radio, newspaper, television, internet). These results provide a good reminder that residents learn a lot about their local area from other residents.

Traditional Resource Practices

Goal:

All Hood Canal residents and visitors who gather or hunt wild local food resources are able to sufficiently harvest as much as needed.

Status:

Steady

Results are mixed: the majority of respondents reported that they harvest at sufficient rates, however barriers exist to different income levels, indicating that local food resources are not necessarily a key ecosystem good for all Hood Canal residents.

Status of Hood Canal Traditional Resource Practices

This indicator includes tribal and non-tribal traditional resource practices, and measures access to and availability of the harvested resource as the proportion of residents who like to regularly access traditionally or commonly harvested natural resources and are able to do so as much as needed.

Amongst Hood Canal residents who hunt or gather wild local food, the majority reported that they rarely (less than 30% of the time) harvest as much as they would like. However, 20.4% of respondents reported that they do not like to hunt or gather at all.

The barriers to harvesting wild local food in Hood Canal vary from health hazards and access limits, to permit costs and harvest limits. However, the largest group of respondents said that they do not want to harvest more than they currently do.

The factors constraining local wild food harvest in Hood Canal vary by income level. Permit costs and other expenses were the most significant barrier for lower income levels, while access was the primary barrier to middle incomes, and catch limits the prominent concern to higher income residents. Again, the middle and high-income brackets reported that they do not want more wild local food resources than they currently harvest.

Strength of Hood Canal Communities

Hood Canal communities are connected and strengthened by natural resource harvesting and management. These activities capture the element of trust, since trust is both necessary for community collaboration and is built by working together.

This indicator measures the percentage of residents who have worked with other residents to manage resources, prepare cultural events, solve community challenges, or share harvested goods in the past year.

Ecosystem Connections

Many Hood Canal residents reported that they participate in community activities a few times a year. However, results also show that few Hood Canal residents are heavily involved (a common finding in community surveys). Results in Hood Canal indicate that residents are willing and able to participate in community actions.

Natural resource industries remain an significant element of the Hood Canal economy, in terms of tradition and culture, as well as revenue, and jobs. Each industry has fluctuated at different rates over time. As more data becomes available, we will continue our economic analysis of these contributions.

Status of Hood Canal Natural Resource Industries

Natural resource industries are a major contributor to the overall Hood Canal economy and provide jobs to local residents.

This indicator captures the major resource-based industries, ranging from small and family businesses to large corporations and measures the percent of revenue to Hood Canal economies from agriculture, commercial shellfish, commercial fishing, timber, non-timber products and tourism.

Each natural resource industry has experienced economic fluctuations, evident even in the past five years. Forestry is steady or increasing in Kitsap and Mason counties, and fishing, hunting, and trapping remain steady across the counties. Agriculture demonstrates dramatic changes from year-to-year as markets and seasonal changes have a large impact. Click on additional graphs for more Hood Canal farm trends.

Tourism makes a large contribution to the Hood Canal economy. Just as economies have changed across WA state and the U.S., we have seen traditional natural resource industries fluctuating with the tides of supply and demand, and tourism steadily gaining, as recreational opportunities become more available and more well-known.

Hood Canal farm trends show a changing agriculture landscape in the region. As the overall number of farms has increased, farm size has simultaneously decreased. Throughout this time, total land in farms showed a significant decline starting in the 1970’s and lasting into the 1990’s, but dramatically increased in the late ‘90’s, and has remained steady.

The market value of Hood Canal farm products has fluctuated over the years with changes in farming practices, market demand, and land use. Livestock dominates Hood Canal farming activities; although Kitsap County crop production has increased over the past twenty years, with a sharp decline in livestock. All three counties saw a significant increase in market value starting in the nineties, when Mason County in particular has dramatically increased its livestock production.

Hood Canal prides itself on its local shellfish. The industry is present in all three counties, and includes active tribal shellfish operators, contributing revenue and employment to Hood Canal residents. The majority of Hood Canal’s shellfish production occurs in the south, in Mason County.

Access to Local Food

Goal:

Wild local food resources are sufficiently available for harvest.

Status:

Steady

Participation and harvest rates for fishing, shellfishing, and hunting have remained steady over the past decade.

Status of Local Wild Food Access

Access to local wild food is important for cultural and physical health as subsistence and supplemental diets typically have high nutritional value, and harvesting requires physical activity in the outdoors. Food harvesting also maintains cultural traditions, measured by the Traditional Resource Practices Indicator.

Participation in recreational fishing and shellfishing activities in Hood Canal has remained steady over the past decade, with similar trends in harvest rates. Although clam and oyster harvesting trips usually yield good results, salmon fishing trips have a lower rate of success.

Harvest of small game has remained steady overall over the past four years. We will continue to add more data years as it becomes available to improve our analysis of small game hunting activities in Hood Canal.

Harvest of big game in Hood Canal has remained steady over the past four years. We will continue to add more data years and variables to improve our analysis of hunting activities in Hood Canal.